Having been three days since he left, Rock Lee finally sighed as they reached the Aizawa village. "This is where they have been the last few days."
"I have been by this place often going back and forth to the Leaf." Gaara held Hinata's hand as they followed Lee through the village. "And I have heard of the miko that lives here."
"Indeed." Laughing Gaara looked over his shoulder and winked at them. "I don't know if they know it themselves yet, but Neji and Akako are falling for each other. Just wait until you see them together and you will understand."
"Hinata? Hanabi? Why are you here?"
Turning to find Neji walking toward them with a worried look, Lee gave him a nod and walked on past him. Gaara and Hinata could tell him what happened better than he could.
When Lee lead Hanabi on to the small make shift village, Neji gave him an odd look then turned serious eyes back to Gaara and Hinata as they stopped before him. "Has something happened I should know about?"
Looking down at his wife with soft eyes as she sighed and dropped her head, Gaara let out his own sigh. "Almost a week ago, four Hyuuga arrived at the Sand with the intent on abducting Hinata." Hearing him gasp, Gaara turned hard eyes up to his. "As much as I hated to take the lives of those from her clan, it was the only way that I could keep her safe. We just came from your Uncle, where the way it looked to me, all but three members of the clan seem to take his side over the elder he called Hitoshi. Would you mind filling me in?"
Giving him a nod, Neji sighed. "Yes. The girl with the red hair that I was bringing back to the village the day that you came for Hinata. Do you remember?" When he gave a nod, Neji crossed his arms. "She is the current Aizawa miko. Just before you showed up at the gate, Hitoshi used the curse mark against me, but she was able to stop it with her purification barrier. The full effect stopped like he wasn't doing it. The same day, Uncle had a scroll that was written in code, it was the language of the Aizawa. Akako is working on translating it now. The way Hitoshi reacted to us having it, we are sure. It is a way to remove the curse mark without killing the one who wears it." Looking back toward where he knew Akako was once again training with Souji, he let out a small sigh as he smiled. "She had the same scroll here in the village, so to get him off our backs for a bit, we came here to get the one she had. Also finding out that her great grandmother was not the first Hyuuga to escape out clan without the curse mark."
Turning back to them and seeing the look in Hinata's eyes, he sighed as he relaxed. "It had to have been Hitoshi Hinata. You know Uncle wouldn't have let you leave the way he did to only order such a thing as that."
"I know. It was Hitoshi cousin." Looking up at him as tears rushed from her eyes, Hinata still clung to her husband. "They said that they were sorry for doing this, but they had to. They wanted to not only put the curse mark on me, but seal my chakra away so I couldn't use any of it ever again."
Knowing what he wanted Akako and her grandmother for, Neji was sure that was not the only thing that they would have done to her had they succeeded. "Knowing Hitoshi, Hinata that was probably not the only thing that was going to happen. He is cruel beyond what anyone ever thought that he was capable of."
"What do you mean?" Giving her cousin an odd look, Hinata was trying to stop the tears, right now, only feeling safe because of her husband.
With a sigh as he turned to start walking back toward the small village. Giving her a stern look Neji sighed. "He threatened Kouji that if he didn't let him use his body to try to get the scroll, and Akako, that he was going to use the curse mark on his little sister Kiyoko. And the jutsu that he was going to have a twelve year old make, would have killed him from the immense pain that it would have caused." But then he stopped as he smiled. "However, Akako is working to translate the scroll that will end it all. And Uncle got there before Hitoshi could use it on the girl."
With a sigh as they walked again, Hinata was hand in hand with her husband as she looked to her cousin next to her. "I have heard much of the purification of the miko from her line. They can do some amazing things."
"Indeed. She can use her purification for almost anything, but when it comes to her chakra she is lacking in that from lack of training." Looking at Hinata just before they rounded the large building he smiled at her as he looked up to see her training, he smiled. "She is learning the Gentle Fist chakra control right now and doing well. Once she has her chakra fine turned and can control the amount she puts out, then she is going to be able to really get it translated faster. Right now her chakra flow is wavy and she has to use her energy to focus and keep the same amount of purification with it to make it work."
Elated to finally see his wife smile a true smile for the first time, Gaara then turned to Neji. "Who is going to be the first one to have it removed?"
Looking over Hinata's head to Gaara's eyes, Neji nodded. "I am. Just in case something goes wrong, I would rather be the one to have it done first. After that, the second is already picked for the clan to see."
"Who is that?" Her eyes scanning, Hinata smiled when she finally found Kiyoko sitting with her mother, Sakura and Ino. She was such a good little girl, and was so glad that her father was there to stop that pain. She remembered the pain that caused Neji when they were little. She didn't want such a sweet innocent girl to have to go through that ever.
Looking at his cousin with a smile, Neji sighed. "It is going to be Kiyoko." When her wide eyes jerked up to his, Neji smiled as he too looked at the little girl. "She will be the first to be freed from the curse mark for the clan to see and strip Hitoshi of all his power over them with it."
He then watched as Hinata kissed Gaara on the cheek and went to go and see the little girl, effectivley pulling an excited squeal from her. "Hinata used to play with the kids in Kiyoko's class at the Clan School. Come, I assume you would like to see how her training is going?"
Nodding as he kept his eyes on his wife, Gaara sighed as he smiled and followed Neji. "Indeed I would. This is something that I am sure she will want to see done, so we will be here for a while. I have left Temari and Baki in charge of the Sand while I was here, not knowing how long I will be gone."
"Right." Glancing at his cousin, Neji then turned to the beatiful red head that was training with a sigh. He did hope that what he thought he saw in her eyes when they would meet wasn't wishful thinking. They would find out soon enough though.
X
"Damnit!"
"Akako!"
Looking at her hand with a glare, Akako growled. "I can't help it Grandma. I know what I need to do but for some reason this stupid body of mine won't do it and it is frustrating me. I don't know why I can't get it smaller than this."
With a smile for her, Souji sighed. "Perhaps it is the stress you are putting on it. Try taking a break for a day, rest and then come back to it."
"Maybe that would work but still it pisses me off." Once again, Akako dropped her head when she heard her grandmother yell her name. "Sorry Grandma."
"Akako."
Hearing Neji's voice, Akako turned with a smile but stopped when she saw the same guy with the red hair standing next to him as she saw when she first got to the Leaf. Blinking as she looked at him, she got that same feeling again. He had a kind and pure soul, but there was something inside him, something that dwelled deep inside that was nothing but pure hate and monstrous.
Shaking her head as she smiled with a sigh, Aoi closed her eyes. "You are spacing out again girl. You do that more now than ever."
Flinching as she shot her grandmother a glare, Akako put her hands on her hips. "I do not Grandma. And it so isn't what we talked about last night either. That's not it at all." She then turned and went to Neji and sighed. "Hello."
Blinking for a second, Neji then smiled. "This is Gaara. The Kazekage of the Sand and my cousin's husband. He and my cousin Hinata are going to stay with us while you work on the scroll."
"I see." Akako turned to the guy with the red hair and smiled. "My name is Akako and it is a pleasure to meet you Lord Kazekage."
Smiling as he nodded, Gaara sighed. "It is a pleasure to meet you. No one else here is going to call me that so I do not expect you or your Grandmother to call me that either. Gaara will be just fine."
"Alright Gaara it is." Akako then turned to Neji and sighed. "I don't know what is wrong. I have been doing great on getting my chakra down to a fine stream. But I only have three more stages before I can really start working on the scroll. But I can't seem to get it. Souji said to take a day off from training, but I am not sure that I really want too."
"Sometimes in training you have to learn when to take a break. A days break tomorrow may just be exactly what you need to get it." Smiling as she just glared at him, Neji laughed. "The hardest part of training is knowing when to take a break and relax and let your body rest and absorb everything you have learned. It will not be as bad as you seem to think it is."
"I guess." With a sigh as she looked at his pendant, Akako let her eyes half close. "But I am much better now. I want to start working on the scroll tonight. I will do that tomorrow instead of training. I want to get it done as soon as I can."
"I think that will be a great idea." Neji then turned and headed toward the others as he put his hand on her back to urge her to walk with him. "That can be a form of practice as well. Doing more and more of it, you will learn how to control it even more."
Giving him a smile as she closed her eyes, Akako laughed. "Right."
X
That evening after introductions of Akako and Hinata, everyone sat down to eat. Now it is time for Akako to work on translating the scroll. With them both laid out, Akako smiled as she closed her eyes and focused. Her body glowing with her purification, and then a stream that turned purple as it mixed with her chakra left her to trace over the next couple of words on the scroll. Then moving to the other scroll translated it into something that they could read.
Watching with focused eyes, Hinata sat between Gaara and Neji. She could see what she was doing. And she could see how much she was struggling to remember what she had to do to control her chakra. 'I wonder if I showed her how I do mine, if that would help her?'
After about an hour, Akako let her purification die down as she took a deep breath. "Oh man. That was actually more taxing than I thought that it would be. But I got a good bit done."
"That you did." Moving to lift the translated scroll, Neji looked at it. It didn't pull any punches that was for sure. "There is a way to remove it. The first part of the scroll after this is going to be how to put it on, why it was created, and how to use it to keep the one who wears it in check. The second part is how to lift it without killing anyone."
Standing with a smile, Akako held the untranslated scroll up as she laughed. "That isn't too far from now either. Look when you roll it out even more, it isn't that long. Soon as I can get done with the jutsus. I am going to translate the smaller writing on the top and bottom and see what that says."
"Right." Neji smiled into her blue eyes. His heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to be the one to tell her, but at the same time. He knew he couldn't walk away from her blue eyes without even at least trying to tell her how he felt and see how it worked out. But after the curse mark is lifted and he lives through it.
